The barbell doesn't care about snake oil

Man, it's hard for me to read particular sites sometimes with the bullshit that gets printed and passed as training information.  The reason why is because I remember being a young dude, and wanting size and strength more than anything on the face of the Earth, and really believing in some of the snake oil bullshit that got printed in the muscle comics.

Franco was prolly worth buying a muscle rag for

I don't know what the sales on magazines are anymore, but I haven't bought a muscle comic in forever.  I don't visit but a couple of lifting boards, only a few websites overall, and I know training bullshit when I smell it.

For those of you that can't, the old adage about "too good to be true" is a good rule of thumb to follow.

You want a list of things that will make you big and strong as shit, and proven to do so?

1.  Consistency over a long period under the bar

This is #1 because if you are not slinging iron on a consistent basis week in and out, nothing is ever going to stick.  Everyone knows that guy that goes in and trains hard for a few months then quits for no explanation.  I talk to people I haven't seen in forever and they will always remark "wow, you've kept on lifting weights after all these years.  That's incredible."

Why the fuck is that incredible?

The above is generally my first thought.  Then I realize that the average gym goer signs up right after January 1st and never steps foot back in the gym about 6 weeks from then.

Lifting to me is part of my life blood.  I will do it until I die.  That's not a "hardcore" thing to say, it's just part of my lifestyle.  No different than anything else in my life that is somewhat ritualistic or habitual.  It's what I do.  It's part of who I am.  It's not #1 in my life.  Not even #4 or #5 really (those are all reserved for believes and people) but it's up there.  I mean, anything top 10 in your life probably has a serious meaning to you.  And unless you decide that you are going to be consistent in your training, everything else you do won't mean shit.  Period.

Lift this about a million times and there you go

2.   Lots of food

This should be obvious but always isn't.  A surplus of food creates an anabolic/growth potential environment.  Simply put, you're not going to get bigger without a nice surplus of calories.  That's a fact.  I don't even care if you're running test/tren/anadrol/var/dbol/deca at max doses.  The calories are the vehicle for everything.

Don't think so?

Years ago the value of a calorie surplus became apparent when I had lowered cals and was dropping weight, and was weak as shit.  I couldn't hit weights at 225 that I used to could hit, and I realized that on the way UP to 240 at 225, I was a shit load stronger than I was at 225 on the way down.  Now this may seem obvious to some, but a lot of people will tell you that you need to gain weight to take advantage of leverages.  And this is true to an extent.  But when you START gaining weight, you'll find the strength increases really sky rocket compared to when your weight levels out.  In fact, you may find that you were hitting the same weights 10 pounds lighter than your weight gain goal, than when you reach it.

In other words, when I am gaining weight, I can hit all the same weights at 245 that I can at 255.  So eventually I figured out, why gain the extra 10?  No need.  On the way up the calorie surplus helps drive the strength gains like a NASCAR driver on meth.

Whether or not you decide to eat clean or dirty, it's the calories that will drive the strength and mass gains.  And for those who are jacking off to "good fats" and shit like that, it's carbs that drive mass gains.  Where do you think the energy for the muscular repair process comes from?  That kind of thing needs a quick energy source, and fats are not it.  And it's glycogen that fuels hard ass training sessions.  Not fats.  I don't care if you "enjoy" eating chicken breast with bell peppers and olive oil.  You're not going to get big or strong on those kinds or diets for the most part.  You need carbs for growth and energy.  Stop buying into the "fat cures all" bullshit that is going around now.

If you're a beanpole this is good and fine, and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

3.  Hard ass, balls to the wall training

Volume training is like what fats have become to this whole eating trend.  Overrated.  Volume is great at times, but at some point you're going to have to bear down and put in some bust your ass style work.  I mean heavy-high-rep squats, leg press, and deadlift, rest/pause and 50% sets on upperbody stuff and going for fucking broke on the big movements.  Doing a single and sitting around for 5 minutes might work for some strength gains here and there, but if you are looking to get over a size and strength plateau, then you will eventually have to pay the piper.  If you get big and strong and cruise through workouts, well good for you, you are in the 1% of 1% of guys that lift.  But if you aren't that guy, accept the fact that at some point you're going to have to bust your ass in a way you never have before to get shit moving forward again.

4.  Rest

You grow when you rest.  If you don't sleep enough to allow for growth, you won't.  If your priority is partying all weekend and getting blasted, then right now getting as big and strong as possible really isn't your priority.  When it is, cut that shit out and spend your weekends resting as much as possible instead of acting like a frat boy douchebag.

5.  Anabolics

This is a dirty word to some people, and salvation to others.  Anabolics are proven to get you bigger and stronger.  If you are holier than thou-steroid-users-are-as-bad-as-child-molesters person, obviously this is not an option for you.  If you are a guy that has maxed out everything he could get out of his natural potential but want to see what else is out there, then anabolics might be for you.  Proceed with caution/enter at your own risk and all that shit.  I will tell you this however, if you have low test levels you will have devisions to make (like I did with HRT) regarding what you need to do.  If you're taking your kids to their soccer game in a minivan it's a good chance you do.  Get your blood work done and make decisions from there.

Love em or hate em, they work.

If you just follow 1-4 you can go a hell of a long ways in terms of getting big and strong.  Eat a lot of food, train your ass off, give your body time to recover with good sleep and rest, then go at it again for as long as possible.  This is a proven sure fire time tested shit-thing/way of getting as big and strong as possible.

The bar or your body doesn't give two shits about some special new routine that promises 30 pounds of lean mass gain in 14 minutes.  Getting big and strong, for the less genetically blessed, is a long hard traveled road.  Either stay on it, or get the fuck off.  Fence riding doesn't have award winners.